Concern 900 · Working draft · editorial review in progress
AI incident response
AI incident response means having a practical plan for containing, investigating and correcting harmful AI behavior when ordinary operations go wrong.
Understanding the concern
An incident might involve exposed data, a compromised assistant or a serious pattern of incorrect outputs. Teams need to decide who can disable access, preserve relevant records and contact affected parties. Continuing to use a faulty system while everyone debates ownership can make the damage worse.
CISA's AI cybersecurity playbook addresses collaboration and information sharing for security incidents. Other harms may need legal, operational or safeguarding responses as well. Think of a fire drill: people should know their roles before an emergency. A useful exercise tests the actual tools and dependencies, including how to resume service safely and check that the problem is resolved.
An example
A connected assistant exposes restricted information, but the organization has not decided who can stop it or preserve evidence.
Illustrative unless identified as a documented case.
Words in plain English
- AI
- Software that learns patterns from examples or uses rules to perform tasks such as recognizing images or generating text. It can make mistakes and does not understand every situation as a person would.
Evidence and its limits
CISA's playbook focuses on cybersecurity collaboration. It is not a complete procedure for all AI harms or a substitute for applicable reporting duties.
CISA · Operational guidance
JCDC AI Cybersecurity Collaboration Playbook and Fact Sheet ↗ (opens in a new tab)2025 voluntary collaboration and information-sharing guidance for AI cybersecurity incidents. Does not cover every legal or non-security AI incident.
Broader frameworks and background
These resources provide context. They do not establish every claim in this concern.
- NIST AI RMF (opens in a new tab)
framework
- ISO/IEC 42001 (opens in a new tab)
standard
A question to discuss
Who can contain this incident now, and what evidence and communication are needed for a responsible recovery?
Keep track of different views, what needs checking, and any next step in your own discussion notes.
Open discussion notes →Principles for the conversation
Before you finish · reflect together
Virtues and principles to consider
Virtues are qualities we practice in how we treat people and make choices. They are not scores for judging someone. Use these ideas to explore what a thoughtful response could look like.
Trustworthiness
Trustworthiness means giving people good reasons to rely on you. It grows when promises, actions, and evidence line up. With AI, a friendly voice or a famous brand is not enough: people need to know what was checked and what could still go wrong.
In practice, keep promises small enough to test, record mistakes, and tell people when the tool's limits affect them. If a service promises human review, make sure a person really has time and authority to review it.
Ask together: What would give the people affected a sound reason to trust this use?
Stewardship
Stewardship means caring for resources and systems that others depend on, including people who will use them later. It looks beyond the benefit of a quick launch.
Plan for maintenance, energy use, data protection, and eventual shutdown. Ask who will look after the tool when the original team moves on and how future users can avoid inheriting hidden costs.
Ask together: What are we responsible for caring for over time?
Prudence
Prudence means using careful judgment before and during action. It balances worthwhile opportunities with the need to avoid harm that could have been anticipated.
Start with a limited trial, set stopping points, and prefer choices that can be undone when uncertainty is high. Review what happens rather than assuming the original plan remains sound.
Ask together: What is a careful next step, and when should we stop or change course?
Editorial ratings
These are editorial judgments from the register, not measured probabilities or predictions about your situation.
About the register and scoring →More ways to explore
Search for more writing
For more specific or recent material, open a search below or ask for a web summary. AI-generated summaries can contain mistakes; open the original articles to check them.